West King Street: Past and Future

West King Street: Past and Future is an initiative of Community Heritage Partners and Community First Fund, supported by individuals, businesses, organizations, and a Planning Assistance Grant awarded to the project by the PA Historical and Museum Commission.

Lancaster’s downtown “success story” has been impressive. Nearly $1 billion in new private and public reinvestment in the last 35 years has kept our central blocks vital, inviting, and attractive to continuing new investment. Yet just west of Prince Street, an area rich with historic and architectural character has languished for decades with no extensive improvements and little new investment.

To extend the benefits of downtown economic development to the West King area, Community Heritage Partners (CHP) is collaborating with Community First Fund (CFF), the City of Lancaster, and the PA Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC). We’ve assembled a planning, preservation, and urban development team to produce an inventory and "road map" for improvements, development opportunities, and strategies for the West King area. This planning work will link the existing building stock with possibilities for re-use, preservation, and new construction, as well as market demand and financial projections, to offer demonstration examples of successful urban development in the West King area.

We are working with West King area property owners and the community to build a base of info, knowledge, design and development solutions that will help West King Street develop a brighter future, drawn from and built upon the architecture and character of its past.